


Lost and Found

by Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Codependency, Everything I Touch Turns Into Fluff, First Kiss, Fluff, Gen, Love Confessions, M/M, Missing Scene, Post-Canon, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 06:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16236143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus/pseuds/Shadowy_Dumbo_Octopus
Summary: How Eddie and Venom found each other again after the explosion. I wanted this to be shorter but fluff happened. Sorry.





	Lost and Found

So, he saved the world.

You know, Eddie thought as he took a swig of cheap beer, as you do.

Don't even get him started about the whole parasi- _symbiote_ thing.

Speaking of whom, Venom’s absence was the main reason why he was currently in the process of replacing all his body fluids with alcohol.

To put it plainly, Eddie missed them.

If someone told him a few days ago that he'd end up missing this weird creepy alien thing that lived in his body, he'd laugh at them.

Ridiculously enough, he was coping even worse than after his breakup with Annie. He felt… _hollow_ would be a good way to put it; it was like he lost a limb and had to put up with phantom pain all the fucking day. Like someone took a knife and cut a giant hole in his chest, expecting him to just deal with it. He felt hollow, incomplete.

Annie was a whole separate person with whom he just clicked. Venom was a part of him. Losing a person was bad, but losing a piece of himself was almost unbearable.

Eddie hated silence the most, because it reminded him of what he lost; of how much he missed that creepy-ass voice in his head telling him to eat that dog over there, leash and all, or bitching at him because he didn't jump off that freakishly tall building he used to work in, was working in again.

His career was flourishing, yeah, but he would give it all away in a heartbeat just to feel complete again, even for a second.

When the bottle was empty, he set it on the coffee table (new just like his apartment, clean and bright and with soundproof walls and so awfully quiet) and reached for another one. Was it his third? Fourth? Fifth? Ehh, numbers were a social construct.

So was self, actually, and he was really tired of the “ _Single Player_ ” mode he was forced to play in. Come to think of it, he was always more of a co-op person.

 _Venom would've liked Mortal Kombat_ , he thought suddenly, and laughed at the sheer absurdity of the thought. He then wondered if they would attempt to recreate some of the tricks from the game, like ripping out some unfortunate dude's spine.

 _They_ . Now it was just _him_.

Now that he wasn't dirt poor, Eddie thought, he could invest in a PlayStation to get his mind off the soul-crushing loneliness that filled his entire being every time he thought about the wonderful creature he and the symbiote made up when they were together, and how he would never get to live through it again because Venom was de-

 _Fuck_.

“Okay, enough beer for now,” he cringed when his head decided to split open (at least that's what it felt like) as he tried to stand up. “Fuck, I've been told that I'm a sad drunk, but come on.”

Miraculously, he made it off the couch and into the bed, not even bothering to get out of his clothes.

Come to think of it, maybe trying to fill that symbiote-shaped void in his body with alcohol was a pretty shitty idea. Then again, shitty life decisions were his speciality.

The apartment was so quiet that his ears were ringing. Not for the first time since the aftermath, he looked up at the ceiling and rasped out:

“Hey buddy, you there?”

Silence.

“Still giving me the silent treatment, huh? C’mon, mate, it's been five months.”

Silence.

“That sex dream about Annie meant nothing, I swear! You know that I need you more than her.” He wasn't sure whether he was joking or not.

Silence.

“Okay, you might just be taking a hell of a nap, I get it. That explosion was a bitch so I totally don't blame you. In fact, I'm gonna stock up on Tater Tots tomorrow juuuust for yoooouuuuu...~”

Nope, still nothing.

Eddie sighed, draping an arm over his eyes. He really should stop deluding himself and looking for something that was no longer there.

That would never be there again.

Not for the first time since the aftermath, he cried until he was too tired to be awake.

~~~

Calling the hangover “nasty” would be a textbook definition of an understatement.

Eddie really, _really_ did not want to be alive when he woke up the next morning (read: three hours later) to five unanswered emails, a lead from one of his contacts, two missed calls and a voicemail from Annie asking how he's holding up, and an even worse headache than before.

It was like his entire existence decided to hurt all at once.

When they were Venom, they didn't feel pain.

He rolled out of bed, hit the carpet with a sad “thump”, and moped his way to the bathroom where he used half of the building's water supply on a shower and drank the other half straight out of the tap.

It didn't help much.

Moping his way back to his bedroom, he changed into something clean and padded to the kitchen for a bite of breakfast.

He missed inhaling an entire rossitterr- roissitir- fuck his brain - an entire _chicken_ because his bodymate was hungry.

Lacking chicken, he finished off yesterday's takeout and chased it down with orange juice.

A quick drag of a toothbrush over his teeth (small and square and not sharp enough) and he was off to another day at work.

~~~

It was well into the evening when he got back home, shrugging off his jacket and throwing his bag on the couch.

A hand caught it.

“What the-” Eddie's heart jumped right up to his throat as he lunged towards the light switch he didn't even bother to press upon entering the living room. Fuck fuck fuck SHIT there was someone in his apartment, someone he had no chance against if a fight broke out because he was a fucking loser who couldn't fight for shit when he was alone and-

The bulb lit up, illuminating the room and allowing Eddie to examine the intruder further.

A tall bearded man built like a brick shithouse, six feet eight at the very least and with a face not even a mother could love.

Welp, goodbye cruel world, it was nice knowing ya. If that's your payback for me rescuing you, feel free to go and fuck yourself.

“W-who are you?” he squeaked, trying and failing to hide his terror.

Mr Brick Shithouse bared his teeth in a snarl. “I,” he drawled out, “am FUCKING PISSED.”

He slammed Eddie's bag down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO FIND YOU?” he roared into his face in an oddly familiar voice, but Eddie was too terrified to chase that thought.

“YOU MOVED TO A DIFFERENT BUILDING, IN A DIFFERENT PART OF THIS HUGE ASS CITY, AND LEFT NO FUCKING WAY FOR ME TO FIND YOU. MAYBE YOU WERE PLANNING TO CHANGE YOUR NAME TOO, HUH?” He dropped Eddie unceremoniously, his whole body spasming.

“I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE DEAD, YOU STUPID SHITHEAD, I THOUGHT…” the voice cracked just a little, “I…”

A flood of black liquid exploded out of the man's mouth and onto the floor as the corpse it left behind collapsed like a puppet without strings.

The liquid coalesced into sort of a goo which sat on the floor opposite Eddie and seemed to stare at him angrily.

_Eddie_Brock.exe stopped responding. Would you like to restart the program?_

_Computing…_

_Computing complete._

Eddie's breath hitched in his throat as his mind finally finished processing the situation.

“Venom…” The name came out as a sob.

The symbiote seemed to sigh as it, as _they_ reached out towards him.

“You're alive…” Eddie gathered them into his arms, weeping like the pathetic mess he was, snot and tears and all. “Venom… I thought you died… I didn't know… Venom… I missed you so much dude… I…”

 **“You're so fucking pathetic, you know that?”** A beautifully familiar voice in his head hissed as their symbiosis commenced. Slowly but surely, the void in Eddie's being filled up until his chest didn't hurt anymore, his mind wasn't so awfully silent, and he wasn't hugging anything but himself.

 _Themself_.

**“That's not even a word.”**

“Fuck off,” he laughed for the first time in months. God, it felt so good to be alive.

 **“** **_Alive_ ** **is too strong of a word, Eddie. What the fuck were you doing to yourself while I was gone?!”**

“Thought you were dead.”

**“So you decided to go off and destroy your liver. Smart.”**

“It's been months. I've been looking for you everywhere.”

**“And I've been looking for you, but not at the bottom of the bottle. Don't you remember the shit it does to your body?”**

“You were gone. Nothing mattered. There was no point…" words were hard. It would’ve been so much easier if Venom just... "Hell, look into my head and see for yourself.”

There was a brief silence as the symbiote flipped through his memories and vice versa. Scraps of images and sensations assaulted him: Fire. Pain. Water. Struggling to regain strength. Fear. Eddie. Desperately scouring the streets for a sign, any sign. Hungry. Weak. The relief of possessing a dog and eating eight cats in one hour. Rapidly changing hosts, discarding them as soon as a more useful one came along. So hungry. Nowhere feels right. Nowhere feels like Eddie. Eddie's empty apartment. Panic. More hosts, blurred faces, lost, weak, Eddie, Eddie, **Eddie…**

He resurfaced, gasping, from the sea of disjointed emotions.

 **“Couldn't find you,”** Venom’s voice sounded in his head, just a little choked up. **“Scared. Lost. Needed to find you. Missed you, Eddie.”**

 _‘I know,’_ he thought back, not trusting himself enough to speak. _‘Missed you too. More than I ever missed anyone.’_

**“More than Annie?”**

_‘More than Annie.’_

The presence inside him shifted, swirling underneath his skin as if pacing back and forth in thought, before it settled near his collarbone.

**“Tired, Eddie.”**

Eddie smiled, using the sleeve of his fancy interview suit to wipe snot and tears off his face.

“Yeah, buddy, me too,” he said standing up, and immediately stumbled. His, _their_ body was realising just how exhausted both of them were. “We'll raid the fridge tomorrow, deal?”

 _We_. He never thought that one word could mean so much to him.

 **“No more cats,”** came a disgruntled reply. **“The fur gets stuck in our teeth.”**

They laughed, finally making it to the bedroom and collapsing on the bed.

“No more cats,” Eddie promised. “Tater Tots?”

**“Always.”**

They went to sleep with a smile on their face.

~~~

Beep beep beep beep be- **CRASH!**

Aaaand that's the alarm clock gone, Eddie thought as he reluctantly returned to the waking world. Wonder what hap-

He opened his eyes to see a pair of arms wrapped around his midsection and, as his other senses woke up too, he felt it disappear between his shoulder blades.

He also felt a familiar presence stirring in his mindscape, slowly waking up from whatever statis it always fell into instead of sleeping.

The memories of the previous night hit him like a sledgehammer.

 _‘Good morning,’_ he thought, the alarm clock long forgotten.

 **“Buy a less annoying alarm clock,”** came the reply.

He laughed _. ‘Will do.’_

They got up, showered, got dressed up, made Tater Tots in the oven, ate, packed some for later, and left the apartment, humming merrily a tune from some video game. Eddie's (their) new apartment was close enough to his job to let them ditch the motorbike unless the weather was particularly shitty.

 **“What's** **_Mortal Kombat?”_ **

Eddie looked up from his phone as they walked. _‘A fighting game, why?’_

**“You were dreaming about it.”**

_‘Was I?’_

**“The Sub-Zero dude looks badass. Get a console asap.”**

They laughed, drawing a few odd looks from the passersby. _‘Roger that.’_

After walking a few blocks further, Venom piped up again, **“You were also dreaming about hugs.”** They sounded… confused? Hesitant?

Eddie stopped abruptly. _‘Oh fuck, I had another Annie sex dream?_ ’ he thought, face heating up instantly. _‘Look, mate, I can't really control my subconscious so-’_

**“Not Annie.”**

Oh?

Oh.

OH.

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll SHIT.

 **“No, not like** **_that_ ** **.”** A pause. **“Just hugs, Eddie.”**

Eddie sighed with genuine relief. No symbiote fucking. God, that would've been awkward as hell to talk about, not even talking about visualising… which he just did. Good job, Eddie.

Venom’s cackle reverberated through their whole body as Eddie hid his face in the collar of his coat to hide the rather interesting shade of red their face took.

**“You like hugs, Eddie. They make you happy. You being happy means us being happy.”**

_‘Hence this morning?’_

**“Yes. Can we eat that guy over there? He looks like an asshole.”**

_‘Nope. Too many people around.’_

**“Eat them too, Eddie?”**

_‘Are you this hungry?'_

**“Yes.”**

Eddie rolled their eyes, stepping into a corner shop - they had enough time to buy a snack.

Two ham sandwiches, one bottle of apple juice, and fifteen minutes of walking later, they entered the lobby.

Rubbing their hands eagerly, Eddie took a deep breath. “What a wonderful day!”

 **“It would be if you hadn't forgotten your bag, dumbass.”** Venom’s voice positively dripped with sadistic amusement as they felt realisation and terror creep into their shared mind.

Wonderful indeed.

~~~

They came, they saw, they interviewed some fucker Venom gave no shits about, they ate the Tater Tots as well as a kebab, they called back Annie to inform her that Eddie was doing fine, and finally they returned home.

“We should probably do something about the body in the living room,” Eddie mused as they took off his shoes.

**“Dump it into the trash - I found a total of twenty dumped across the city when I was looking for you.”**

_‘Lovely,’_ they carefully stepped over the corpse on their way to the kitchen. _‘Maybe in a few hours when the rest of the neighbourhood is asleep.’_

**“Will do. Hey, Eddie?”**

_‘Hungry again?’_

**“Still weak. Still hungry. Eat and rest, Eddie?”**

He nodded. _‘Eat and rest.’_

Venom gave him control over their body while they retreated somewhere behind their brain to nap, so Eddie dug through the abyssal depths of one of the kitchen cupboards until he found a cookbook. A quick flip through the pages and he found something he could make reasonably quickly with all the ingredients at hand.

He got to work straight away, cutting up the onion he bought on a whim a few days’ prior and letting it slide into the frying pan. A few minutes in the microwave and the chicken breasts he found in the freezer were thawed enough to go into the oven. Not yet, though. First the sauce. Canned tomatoes, oregano, some other spice he wasn't sure how to pronounce, diced bell peppers he kept in a tupperware container in case he ever got motivated enough to make spaghettI...

 **“Cheese,”** came a half slurred command from inside his head.

 _‘Not yet,’_ he hummed mentally as he covered the chicken in seasoning, set it out on the deep, oven-friendly dish - he forgot what it was called; he could be shit with words for a journalist. Anyway, in went the chicken, followed by the sauce and the onion before he popped everything into the oven.

While the meat was cooking, he dug through their fridge for some mozzarella. He would've sworn that he bought some on Tuesd- aha! The small white ball went on the board, chop chop, and it became small white slices.

Eddie didn't remember the last time he enjoyed himself so much while cooking. Was he the main cook when he and Annie were engaged? He couldn't remember, it seemed so far in the past. Irrelevant. The meat was more or less ready, so he turned off the oven, took the tray out and placed the mozzarella over the chicken before returning it to the still warm oven where the cheese would nicely melt while the rest of the food would be kept warm, but not enough to be burnt.

After a few minutes of rummaging through the apartment in search of something non-alcoholic, he returned to the table with a bottle of red wine he didn't even remember buying. Sure, it _was_ alcoholic, but fancy enough to match the food and probably lighter on his liver than the cheap beer he's been drinking for the past few weeks.

When the table was set, he sent a gentle pulse into their mind to wake the symbiote.

_‘The dinner is ready.’_

An odd but not entirely unpleasant sensation washed through him as his bodymate slowly uncurled themselves and seemed to stretch all over his body for a few moments before gathering themselves between their ribs.

 **“Smells like chicken,”** they remarked with evident approval. Eddie blinked once, twice, and they were connected to their eyes.

 **“Cheese?”** they asked.

 _‘Mozzarella,’_ Eddie barely managed to answer before they were devouring the chicken, fork and knife scraping against the bottom of the dish.

_‘Good?’_

**“Very good, Eddie.”**

_‘Nothing but the fanciest cuisine for you.’_

**“Whatever you say, Edward ‘I only eat takeout five days a week’ Brock.”**

_‘Touché.’_

They were finished in no time, licking both the dish and the bottle clean (Venom’s tongue could work bloody miracles.) Neither felt like doing the washing, so they just got out of the clothes and showered, threw on some reasonably warm pyjamas, and crawled into bed. Then they crawled out of bed, got rid of the dead body, and crawled back in.

**“Eddie,”**

_‘If you think I'm getting up to fix us something to eat, think again. Yes, you can have my liver if you want, I don't care.’_

**“No. Not that.”** Venom seemed to hesitate. **“Thank you for wanting us back.”**

Eddie opened their eyes, brows knitting together in confusion. _‘Of course I wanted us back, I still do. Why wouldn't I?’_

**“You did not want it at first.”**

Oh yeah. _‘You wanted to destroy humankind at first,’_ he pointed out.

 **“I would die without you**.”

The past months flashed before their eyes, from both perspectives.

 _‘The sentiment is very much mutual,’_ Eddie replied, staring at the ceiling. He still couldn't get used to the absence of cracks and water stains. _‘I don't just need us, though… I want us.’_

**“More than you want Annie?”**

_‘Why do you keep bringing her up?’_

A pause. **“You loved her, Eddie. You still do. Yet you need us, want us, more than you want or need her…”**

Both of them could see where the conversation was going, but Venom asked the question anyway.

**“Do you lo-”**

_‘Yes.’_ Out of the two of them, Eddie was definitely the most surprised by his response. _‘I think that I do.’_

They actually sat up in the bed at that before their brainscape went dead silent for a good minute or so.

 **“You have a shit taste, Eddie,”** the symbiote grumbled eventually, swirling around their forearm. **“In fact, it's almost as bad as mine.”**

_‘Why?’_

**“Because I love you too.”**

Now it was Eddie's turn to fall silent. Again, around a minute or two had to pass before one of them spoke/thought up.

 _‘I fucked up my previous relationship, you know.’_ Eddie sighed.

 **“Because you lied and kept secrets. You can't exactly do that now,”** the symbiote pointed out. **“You can't hide anything from me and vice versa.”**

They had a point, Eddie thought, rapidly running out of excuses and reasons why they were clearly not meant to be.

“ **You want it, I want it,** **_we_ ** **want it,”** Venom’s voice whispered directly into his ear. **“What can a human give you that I cannot?”**

Ah, fuck it. Might as well throw all caution to the wind and just go for it. Their life wasn't gonna get any weirder than that.

 _‘I don't know,’_ Eddie mused, struggling to keep a smirk off their lips, _‘Humans usually kiss when they like each other. How are you with kissing?’_

A shudder ran through their body as Venom rose out of him, face hovering mere inches away from his.

 **“Don't you remember?”** they purred, grinning teasingly. Both of them knew what they were referring to.

“Was it you or Annie?” Eddie leaned forward, licking his lips and genuinely hoping for the former.

The symbiote tilted their head to the side curiously. **“She told you already that it was me,”** they hissed.

God, this was fucking ridiculous. “Mhm, yeah, but those were still her lips, so that didn't technically count. Come on, a smooch to seal the deal?”

He could barely finish the sentence before Venom leaned forward and the world past them disappeared.

The kiss felt…

It felt…

It…

It was indescribable. Truly and utterly indescribable. Okay fine, ‘toothy’ would do a good job, but other than that, Eddie had no words capable of expressing how…

 **‘You think too much, Eddie,’** Venom chuckled inside his head. They then shoved their tongue into his mouth and he could think no more.

**Mine.**

_Yours._

**_Forever._**

 

They didn't get much sleep that night. 


End file.
